Chase
by A. O. Talmidge
Summary: Jason's young friend Jiyo finds an old bag at a park nearby their deaf school in Washington, D.C. However, it seems that someone else is looking for it. . .
1. Discovery at the Park

**Chapter One  
****Discovery at the Park**

Jason frowned as he unlocked his dorm room. Inside was the unfortunately familiar sight of the neat small tiled floor, with two single beds set up on each side. There was a corresponding desk for each bed, a small dresser with three drawers each, as well as a large closet was tucked away in the far corner of the room. The small window, blinds down and undamaged as usual, was on the far wall.

The only indications that people actually lived the dorm room were the personal items on the desks and dressers, and that even before he had come into the room, each of the beds' coverings contained tiny rumples where the covers were not completely straight.

Jason pocketed his key and placed his suitcase on the bed closest to the door. He and the suitcase had just been in Brooklyn, where his family, which included his younger brother and parents, had lived since about a month after the new school year. He had some small pictures on both his desk and dresser and a small photo album in the closet, and he frequently wrote to and received letters from his younger brother, Rob, and his mother, especially the former. However, the only times that he actually _saw_ his family was usually every summer, Christmas, maybe spring break, and possibly some scattered other mini-visits here and there.

Jason clenched his right fist slightly. It was not fair, really. He was deaf, yes, and so it was sort of nice for him to have been to this deaf boarding school instead of being taught by random, hastily found tutors after each time his family had moved to a new air force military base. That definitely did not mean he had wanted to stay here clear until college.

He and Rob had tried to convince their parents to let Jason finally stay. After all, the Baker family was finally in a permanent home since his father had retired as a Colonel. Also, he only had the rest of tenth grade, and then two years after that. He wanted to _live_ with his family, instead of just visit them sometimes. Surely, at age sixteen, he was old enough to do that now.

He quickly unpacked his suitcase, which took less than five minutes. After shoving the empty case in its usual place at the bottom of the closet, he frowned and flopped onto his bed.

"Why?" he signed angrily to himself, moving his right hand forcefully downward from his head.

His father, his high-ranking colonel father did not appreciate him since he was deaf, and never had. Even his mother did not like him enough to at the very least argue more with his father to keep him home.

And Rob . . .

Jason anxiously remembered his younger brother's devastated face when he had last told him the lack of response from both of their parents. He also definitely wanted Jason to stay home for good . . .

Jason lay on his bed for a long while. Generally, he might look for Justin, his best friend here that was also his single roommate, or greet Jiyo, his "Padawan" that he was helping to adjust to staying away from home. He also might see Darren, Justin's student from the same helper program. He really did not feel like cheerfully greeting the two younger kids at the moment though, to say the least.

Maybe Rob was rather sullenly helping clean the small house currently. He had seen his mother mention that to Rob, but she had not wanted to do the chore when Jason was visiting.

He looked up briefly again at the uniform room. Even just cleaning the house all day long would be a lot more fun than having to stay here. He would be with Rob, and could have races to see who could dust the room more quickly, but still thoroughly, at the same time. He could tell random jokes about places in the house, stating that they led to various places in the _Star Wars_ world . . .

Jason felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up, blinking sleepily. Apparently he had fallen asleep without realizing it.

Looking at him was his roommate, also a brunette, although Justin's hair was not quite as dark. "Are you okay?" Justin signed worriedly.

Jason sat up, sliding his feet, which still had shoes on them, off of the narrow bed. He shrugged, frowning some.

"I'm never going to be allowed to stay home," he signed back sullenly, not bothering to force any cheerfulness as he would for Jiyo and Darren instead of openly showing that he was upset.

"Really?" Justin asked, his face questioning. Obviously his friend did not believe him fully.

Jason nodded somberly. "Really," he repeated sullenly. He would always be here for most of the time, always only a visitor to his own family.

Justin was looking concerned. Jason had told him about his father's dislike of him, so he understood about that. It was definitely different with his roommate about staying home, though. Justin knew that he might be staying here at the boarding school for at least another year, but he had told him that he really did not mind that much. He had family, like Jason did, including some siblings, but did not have the yearnings Jason did to be with them. He still understood about Jason wanting to go home, though.

His roommate lifted up his hands again. "Maybe you can try asking again soon," Justin suggested.

Jason shrugged helplessly. "Maybe," he replied doubtfully. "I'll probably not get a positive answer. It's always just 'maybe', or 'not yet', over and over." He frowned. "I'll be a faker, telling Jiyo how nice it is to stay here."

"Maybe you can remind him he still needs to learn more things before staying home again," Justin signed. "Then he can show them to his family."

Jason nodded, still not quite sure how he would get his young Padawan to believe something that he no longer thought applied to himself. "Maybe."

"Maybe you can see the new Star Wars toy that Jiyo got," Justin suggested. "He's been wanting to show it to you."

Jason nodded again. He knew that his friend was trying to distract him from his loneliness, as well as see Jiyo at the same time. Justin was right, though. He should not ignore the younger student.

"Do you know where he is?" he asked, straightening some.

His roommate shrugged a little bit. "I saw him with some of his friends earlier on the playground nearby this morning before class," Justin relayed. "Maybe he's in one of the recreation rooms."

"If he's not stuck somewhere," Jason added worriedly, as he frowned a bit. "Or in some other trouble."

"I hope not, "Justin replied. His roommate knew, as well as Jason, of his Padawan's sheer aptitude for accidentally getting into trouble a lot.

He stood and stretched a little bit. Justin grinned at him. Jason tried to smile back, but it was rather hard.

They walked together toward the nearest recreation room on the floor below them. Unfortunately, neither Jiyo nor Darren was in it. Jason went to one of the smaller boys in Jiyo's grade and quickly tapped him on the shoulder. The dark-skinned boy turned around.

"Have you seen Jiyo?" Jason asked, using his Padawan's name sign.

The boy shook his head, and went back to playing with some toy cars. They went out of the room and checked in Jiyo's, then Darren's dorm room, then another recreation room further down in the building. They got permission to look outside at the park nearby, but none of the deaf kids there was the Japanese boy.

"Hide-and-seek," Justin signed jokingly.

Jason smiled back as they passed by the music room. Jiyo had found a secret passage in there one time. He wanted to look in other possible places first before searching any hidden passages in the school, though.

They looked in more rooms, including the cafeteria where some younger kids were having a snack. Luckily for them, a teenage girl came running out of a supply room a few minutes later, her face a bit panicked.

"Is there a janitor nearby?" she asked them. Neither of them knew.

"What happened?" Jason asked.

The girl frowned, still looking worried. "Two shelves fell down on a kid, and the things on the shelves also," she replied.

Jason had a sneaking suspicion who the kid was. "We can help the kid while you get the janitor," he signed, indicating him and Justin.

The girl nodded and thanked them, then left running down the hall. He and Justin went through the open doorway. There was indeed a mess of a couple shelves and scattered various supplies in front of the small closet in the back of the room. A film of colored chalk dust covered the jumbled pile, including the small figure sitting in the middle of it, and not surprisingly, the hair on the person that was not coated in light hues of white, green, blue, and yellow, was jet-black.

Jiyo's almond eyes widened when he saw them, and his face broke out into a large grin. "Hi!" he waved excitedly.

He stood up, part of a shelf falling of him, and tried to come toward them, but then tripped over what looked like a dust-covered paint can and the other shelf.

"Stay there," Jason signed.

Jiyo nodded as he and Justin came toward, and the eight-year-old awkwardly stood, trying to balance by the board and various cans and small boxes around him. Jason reached out a hand, and led the Padawan over the dusty mess. Jiyo shook his powdered head, rubbing his face slightly. His right hand now had a large blue and yellow smudge on it.

A strong hand tapped Jason on his right shoulder, and he turned around to see a uniformed man that had to be one of the day janitors.

"Are you all okay?" he asked. He spoke instead of signing, as it was not required for the janitors to know sign language, for whatever strange reason.

Jason interpreted for Jiyo, as he could not yet read lips very well. They nodded, and the janitor's eyes creased together.

"Can any of you talk?" he asked, putting one hand on a hip. Jason translated again.

Jiyo shook his head, though that was actually untrue. His young Padawan _could_ talk some, but was generally quite shy about it near hearing people. However, Jiyo was a whole lot better than himself. Jason hesitated a tiny bit, then put out his hand in a "so-so" motion. Justin lifted up one hand and put his thumb and pointer finger close together in a gesture that even hearing people knew meant "only a little bit."

The janitor raised an eyebrow and let his arm fall back to his side. He shook his head slightly and looked off a bit to the side, but not so much that Jason could not still see what he said.

"Of course, I apply for a janitorial position at a deaf school, where even some of the older kids can't talk and I manage to come across three at the same time that are practically mute," he said to himself. He then turned his head fully around again and cringed a bit at Jason signing the rest of the sentence. "And of course, you translated that too, right?"

Jason nodded (he may as well as well say that he had). The janitor grinned a bit.

"Well, I certainly deserved that one," he said, his face rueful. He then straightened. "Well, you can go on and get the kid cleaned up. Looks like he needs it. And I'll clean up this mess in here. Did the shelves just break, or was the kid trying to climb on them- wait, don't try to answer that. Anyone can plainly see that the shelves are not where they're supposed to be, and any good janitor could find out why."

He made shooing motions with one hand. Jason held up his right hand, then quickly dug into his pocket for his small notepad and pen. He wrote a brief "thank you", then showed it to the man.

The janitor shrugged. "Well, you're welcome, I guess," he replied. "Cleaning up messes is what janitors do."

Justin translated the man's reply this time, as Jason was still holding the pad and pen. He could not lip read quite as well as Jason could, but he generally understood what people said.

The janitor shooed them away again. Jason replaced the pad and pen, then went with Jiyo and Justin out of the room. He closed the door behind them.

Jiyo lifted up his hands as they walked toward the nearest bathroom. "I want to help the janitor," he signed.

Jason smiled. "Well, he maybe we can help after you're all cleaned up. Then you could see better."

Jiyo grinned, and they had to chase after him as he suddenly broke into a full on run to the nearest bathroom. Before they could stop him, the smaller boy had turned on the water full blast and dunked his head under it.

Predictably, he came up cringing, holding his eyes. Justin dashed to the closet and nabbed a couple of soft towels, while Jason went to the regular sink towels and grabbed a few. He wet them under the water that was still running and turned it off. He then tapped Jiyo on the arm, then again when his Padawan flinched away, still tightly covering his eyes.

Jiyo finally took his arm away. His face was now utterly streaked with water and watery chalk dust, and Jason gently dabbed around his eyes with the paper towel. After a few more, Jiyo finally opened his eyes and took the towel from Jason and wiped his eyes with it. Justin helped him take the rest off of his face, streaking the light blue towels with various colors.

About half an hour later, after an odd occurrence of the door to the bathroom somehow actually falling off, landing on a sink and causing water to burst from it such as it might from a fire hydrant, Jiyo was rubbing his previously sopping wet face with yet another clean towel. Somehow, his clothes had luckily been spared the water blast, as well as Jason and his roommate. Jiyo handed the wet towel to Jason, who put it into the used towel box with the others ones they had used.

Jiyo smiled. "Better," he signed. His clothes were still streak with color, but at least none was on his face. "Now, can we help the janitor?"

Jason returned the facial gesture, looking at Jiyo's hopeful face. There was no stopping his Padawan sometimes.

He then frowned slightly. "If he's still there," he signed worriedly.

Jiyo suddenly looked rather panicked. "He might be done already?"

The Padawan took off running again, bu Jason easily caught up to him this time. Unfortunately, when they opened the door to the supply room, the mess was cleaned up, including the shelves back on the wall, and the janitor was nowhere in sight.

Jiyo slumped forward some, rather dejected. He looked up moodily. "I wanted to help since I made the mess," he signed sadly.

Jason patted him on the shoulder, not caring that his hand got slightly colored. "Maybe next time," he suggested. Justin nodded his approval.

Jiyo still looked rather disheartened, but soon straightened, his face brightening. "Maybe we can go see my new Star Wars figure I got from home?" he signed excitedly. "It's a See-threepio!"

"Awesome," Jason signed back, meaning it.

Even though he was away from his family, he still liked to see Jiyo so excited about something. It was quite nice that people still did like him here, including Ghostwriter, the ghost that only Rob, Rob's friends, and more recently, Jason could see. Ghostwriter could follow him wherever he went, and could even send messages between him and Rob, even with the distance between them, so he could talk to his younger brother more often than he could otherwise.

They went into the hallway, and Jiyo grinned and pointed to two students. Jason followed his gaze to see a ten-year-old sandy-haired boy signing to another one in his grade, recognizing him as one that he and Justin had introduced him to. Darren stopped his conversation as Jiyo ran right in front of him, greeted the other boy, then pointed at Jason and Justin.

"Jason's back!" he signed.

The other boy waved. Jason and his roommate waved back. Darren then looked at Jason, and he saw the sort of new ten-year-old that was much more serious than Jiyo and less active, but still friendly once one got to know him better.

"Hi," he waved, smiling some, and Jason returned both gestures.

The other boy turned to Darren. "You want to be with them for a while?" he asked. "We could do things later."

Darren must have become much better friends with the boy in the past three days, since he only shrugged instead of making a sullen face.

"Fine," he replied.

The boy nodded and walked off toward the direction of a recreation room.

Jiyo grinned. "Triple J-D is back!" he signed.

Jason nodded. That was their special name for their small group, of course standing for the three of them whose names started J, and then D for Darren. Jason had randomly thought of it one day, and the name had stuck. He then felt a strong, wistful longing for Rob again, even though he was with his group. Jason tried to shove it away, somewhat successfully. He could not let the two younger kids down.

Meanwhile, Darren was looking Jiyo over, his clothes still wet and streaked with color. He raised his eyebrows.

"What happened this time?" he asked.

Jiyo looked a little rueful. "Well, I was in a supply room over there . . ."

* * *

Jason carefully looked over the short bushes in front of them. He motioned Jiyo over, who was holding a small stick as a pretend light saber.

"I sense dark Jedi over there," he signed, pointing.

Jiyo nodded. "How many?" he replied.

"Three."

"Can I smack them?"

Jason grinned. "Not until the others are found," he responded. "We don't want them to reveal that we're here."

Jiyo nodded. Of course, Darren and Justin were the other Jedi with them, searching for dark Jedi traitors. They were currently on a planet for a special mission of catching them and others that were trying to overrun a Jedi base.

He spotted Justin about three feet away, showing Darren something that was probably evidence from the dark Jedi. He waved to him, to get his attention.

Justin turned around, and put down the rock. "It's a meteorite with a dark force on it," he replied.

"Recent?"

His roommate nodded. Darren actually grinned some, getting into the game.

"I sense it from . . . over there!" he signed, pointing to the swings.

Jason nodded. "We could take them in individual groups, or force them together, and then fight them," he stated.

"We could raise a force field," Darren suggested. "One that dark Jedi can't sense."

Jason shook his head. "That would use too much energy," he signed back.

"We could do one group, and then the other," Jiyo suggested.

Jason, Justin, and even Darren nodded. Jiyo bounced upward some, eager to fight.

"Let's go!" he signed excitedly.

They snuck into the base, carefully crossed the roped area between platforms, and crept behind some of the gears controlling part of the base. Darren carefully lowered himself to the telescope, with Jiyo following. He watched them maneuver it skillfully toward the swings, then place it back where it was before they had used it.

"It's fine to attack?" Jason asked them once they had come back up.

Darren nodded. Jiyo took the stick light saber he had stuck in his belt, and Jason and his roommate followed them toward the unwary villains nearby.

They then stuck, all with the superior skills of the good side of the Force. The second group was even easier. Jason whopped two with the Force, then let Jiyo finish them off. The dark Jedi all soon surrendered, and they sent them all to a special type of prison cell that they could not escape from.

Jiyo put the teleporter for the base back in its place, hidden under a large rock by two trees. He pushed a "button", and it resealed itself into the rock, hidden from anyone that did not know about it.

"We did it!" he cheered, pumping one fist into the air.

Jason grinned and nodded. They soon had a race to the platform with the glider. There were not even any people on it, as more seemed interested in the two tire swings on the other side of the playground.

They were almost there, when Jiyo suddenly tripped over something on the ground and banged into two smaller boys that were passing nearby them. All three tumbled hard onto the ground. Jason dashed toward them, and helped his Padawan up.

The smaller of the two young boys was perhaps about two years old, and scrunched up his face and opened his mouth. He was probably crying, though of course Jason could not hear it.

A woman that could be the boys' mother came rushing toward them, picking up the youngest one and rocked him on her hip.

"It's fine. It's fine," she cooed, rubbing his head with her free hand.

The boy closed his mouth and leaned his head against his mother's shoulder. The older one, who was about four-years-old, patted his mother on the elbow.

Jason felt a tap on his arm. "Are they okay?" Jiyo asked him.

"I think so," he replied.

He looked up to see the four-year-old and the mother looking at them in astonishment. Her face then turned into a scowl.

"You should look where you're going!" she snapped at them.

She then grabbed her older son's hand. Her head was turned a little bit, but Jason could still see enough of her mouth.

"Stupid deaf people," she spat. The mother then pulled on her four-year-old and led him away from them.

Jiyo looked at him. "What did she say?" he asked. Darren was also looking at him, waiting for an answer.

Jason tried to shrug nonchalantly. "She wasn't happy that someone knocked her sons down, but at least they're both fine," he replied. He tried to smile. "Maybe she was just tired."

Jiyo nodded, thankfully satisfied with the answer. "My mom can get that way," he signed. "She was so mad when Daichi and I spilled the milk all over the floor, and that was after I knocked over the syrup and Daichi broke the mug on the windowsill."

Thankfully, Darren was also looking at least mostly content with Jason's answer. Jiyo then was about to run over to the glider again, when his foot caught on something- again- and he tripped. Thankfully his knees were only covered slightly in dirt where he had fallen, from where the woodchips and been moved around so much that the earth below them shown.

Jiyo was about to pick himself up, when he stopped. His Padawan's eyebrows creased slightly, and he swiped one finger against something on the ground.

Jason knelt by him. "What is that?" he asked.

Jiyo shrugged and swiped at the thing some more. It seemed to be a green piece of material, and Jiyo tugged at it hard. Without much effort, he pulled it upward. To Jason's surprise, it was a small dirt-encrusted green bag, with pull strings holding it closed.

Darren leaned closer. "What's inside?" he asked.

Jason shrugged, intrigued. It could be someone's rock collection that they had lost at one point, some collector's pennies, special light sabers that grew once Jedi held them . . .

Jiyo dropped the bag, trying to open it, but Justin picked it up and handed to him. The Padawan finally managed to tug the knot apart. He opened the bag, and grinned a bit.

"Marbles," he finger spelled with his left hand.

Darren pointed to a something near the bottom of the bag. Jason looked closer at it to see the fading lettering, "Adrian Kimber- Happy Birthday! December 29, 1962."

Jiyo lifted up the bag too peer at the pale wording. "Wow," he signed. "That's really old."

Darren shrugged. "Maybe the bag is old, but the marbles are new?" he suggested.

Jiyo shrugged, and pulled one out. The colored glass was covered with dust, with a few dirt spots. Jiyo made a face, then put it back in the bag. The next several were all the same way.

"Not new," he signed, awkwardly signing the last word with his left hand sliding against his right hand that still held the bag.

He then grinned. "Can we keep them?" he asked.

Jason shrugged. "Maybe we could ask the person at the small police station nearby if someone reported any marbles lately."

Jiyo looked a little put out, but nodded. The four of them went to the station, which was a small one that was only a few blocks from the playground. He knew that the guard there was quite nice and was one of the few there that actually knew some sign language. Most of the guards there would not even mind a small group of deaf kids coming in.

Thankfully, it was one that they knew was nice, and after a cheerful wave, Jason asked for paper and was soon given a piece from the nearby copy machine. Jason and Justin watched carefully as Jiyo wrote down the request- he still did not quite have a solid grasp with English- and after a few corrections, Jiyo handed the paper to the officer that the guard called over.

The man, also luckily one that was friendly, looked it over. "Marbles, huh?" he asked, while Jason translated again, this time also for Darren.

He stroked his chin with his free hand. "I don't know of any recent requests for lost marbles," he said thoughtfully. Jiyo looked hopeful, even as the officer held out a hand for the bag and looked at several of them, like they had.

The officer then dropped a dusty marble with a barely visible lime green center back into the sack. "I think if anyone would have been looking for them, it would have been quite a while ago, so I think it's all right if you take them," he said kindly.

He handed the bag back to Jiyo, who was grinning widely. The younger boy then pumped up his arm. Jason flinched as dozens of marbles soared out of the still open top, rolling under the desk and all over the floor.

"Sorry," Jiyo signed, frowning some at the mess.

"It's fine," he signed back. He looked back at the officer.

Thankfully, the man just smiled. "Well, you can certainly keep them after you clean them all up," he said. "I'll just help a few of the people over there who are having a bit of trouble."

He shook his head slightly and carefully stepped over some marbles on the floor nearby. Jason turned around to see a few sullen people on the wooden flooring, looking rather disdained in Jiyo's direction. Apparently they had somehow tripped after the marbles had come out of the bag, but at least no one was mad about anyone being deaf this time.

Jason turned back around and knelt down to help pick up the spilled marbles. It was neat that Jiyo had found a buried treasure of sorts, and he was looking forward to playing with the marbles with him, as well as Justin and Darren. All the same, though, he wished that Rob was here to see it.


	2. Where Adrian Had Been

**Chapter Two  
****Where Adrian Had Been**

Jason was kneeling down by Jiyo in his dorm room on a borrowed small blue rug, cleaning the marbles from the bag. Justin and Darren were nearby, also helping with the task.

He took another dirt encrusted marble from the plastic bin that they had been soaking in, then carefully rubbed it with the rag he was holding. They had requested a bin of water for the marbles from the kitchen, and surprisingly, they were allowed. Hopefully nothing too bad would occur with either the bin or the rug. Beside him, Jiyo was frowning in concentration as he tackled his own marble with a rag. His Padawan took the rag away, made a face at some dirt spot, and continued rubbing.

Jason finished the one was working on, then took the other, cleaner rag nearby and swiped the water from it. He then placed it with other clean marbles in the small box that Justin had found from a storage room. The marble bag itself was currently in the wash, as they had decided that it should be after bringing it to the small room.

They continued to clean the marbles, one by one. Finally, Darren swished a hand through the muddy water, then lifted it out.

"There's no more," he announced.

Jason also stuck his hand in. He only felt the rutted bottom of the light blue plastic bin, even around the corners. He nodded.

"We're done!" Jiyo signed, grinning.

He then bounced upward, his filthy rag falling onto the rug, and did a little impromptu dance. Unfortunately, his foot managed to whack the bin, hard, which tipped completely over. Jason jerked backward in surprise as the clouded water whooshed over himself, most of the rug- and all over the hard tiled floor of the dorm room.

He managed not to cringe at the uncomfortable feeling of his wet jeans, as well as the work ahead of them. Jiyo was once again looking rather subdued.

"Sorry," he signed.

"It's fine," Jason replied, suppressing a the urge to frown.

He could change (though he would do that in the bathroom nearby, thanks to the water on the floor), and they could indeed clean up. He should thought of the danger of the dancing near the bin full of water in the first place. Thankfully, Justin had rescued the box of marbles, and his roommate placed the box on his desk.

"I can take the rug to the laundry room," Darren offered.

Justin nodded, and the ten-year-old waited before the others had gotten off of the rug before picking up the sopping mat from the floor.

"Maybe you can get a bag for it," his roommate then suggested.

Jason nodded in agreement. He really did not want to have to mop up a trail of water in the hallway as well. Darren also nodded and put the rug back down on the floor. He carefully stepped through the large puddle of water, then went out of the room.

Jason quickly changed, and he, Jiyo, and Justin went to get a mop from the small supply room specifically for cleaning the dorm rooms on their floor, which was thankfully close by. Darren joined them a little bit afterward.

Justin rolled one of the yellow mop buckets from their place by the wall, while Jason unhooked a mop.

"Do we need to get water?" Jiyo asked confusedly as they went out of the small room, with Justin wheeling the empty bucket.

Jason shook his head. "We're going to be mopping water into the bucket, not putting more water on the floor," he explained.

Jiyo nodded. He then tapped Justin on the shoulder.

"Can I roll it?" he asked excitedly.

Justin nodded, and let the eight-year-old take the bucket from him. Jiyo happily steered the bucket and mop through the hallway, only twice accidently banging it into the wall. They reached the room with no incidents. Justin opened the door, where they were greeting by the muddy water still there.

Jason and Justin showed the younger students how to use the mop and bucket, including fully wringing it out. After they had cleaned part of the room, they let Darren, then Jiyo help. Unfortunately, the latter managed to knock of the bucket against Jason's desk. The box full of marbles fell onto the floor, with its contents once again rolling all over the place. At least it was only the box, though, and not one of the picture frames there, or the glass mug of pencils.

"I should have closed the box," Justin ruefully signed after he picked up the water-logged cardboard box from the floor. He placed it on a part of the room that did not have water on it, and went to get a towel.

Finally, after supper, they were finished with the mopping. This was, though, after Jiyo somehow managed to tip over the bucket a second time, this time drenching the bottom part of the covers of Jason's bed, as well as Darren's shoes, and then the third time, somehow tripping over the bucket and causing it to _fall apart_. They had gotten another bucket and redid the mopping again, and the newly cleaned marbles were back in the dry bag from the laundry room. Darren had excused himself to play with his friend from earlier, so it was just the three of them in the dorm room, sitting on Jason's bed, dry with new covers.

Jiyo tossed the bag into the air (which had been tightly pulled together by the strings). He caught it neatly and placed it on his lap.

"Can you teach me how to play now?" he asked them.

Jason checked his watch, which read seven thirty-two. "Maybe tomorrow?" he suggested. "We still need to look up the rules."

Jiyo slumped some, though he then straightened and open the bag again. He pulled out a shiny small marble with a tri-colored center of blue, yellow, and green.

"Neat," he signed. Jason nodded, smiling.

He then was surprised as he saw a now familiar symbol appear in the air in front of him. Jason tried to not show any visible reaction, as his two friends with him could not see Ghostwriter.

He watched the ghost fly toward his desk and stopped at the bottom right part. Apparently something was over there that he was reading, as the ghost could only see things that were written, including words in any language. He sometimes wished that Ghostwriter could see drawn sign language, but that unfortunately fell under the category of pictures instead of written words.

Jason squinted at the area where the ghost was still hovering. There seemed to be a small smudge that was a different hue than the dark brown of the desk. He looked again at his Padawan and roommate, but they were just looking at another marble that Jiyo had pulled out of the bag.

Jason tapped Justin and pointed toward the desk. "Did we miss something over there?" he asked.

Jiyo made a face. "Not more water," he signed somberly.

Still, the smaller boy reluctantly placed the bag onto the bed and followed Jason and Justin over to his desk. Jiyo knelt down, and picked up what looked like a small, crumpled, mud drenched piece of paper. He then tried to unfold it, but accidently ripped it in half.

Jason held out a hand for the pieces, and Jiyo obliged. He carefully unfolded them and smoothed them on his desk. The faded words were mostly covered in brown stains, but they could make out most of them, including from the piece of paper that was upside down. He smiled as he saw Ghostwriter hovering over pieces of paper. Being able to see the ghost in the first place was just plain neat.

"Tape?" Jiyo suggested.

Jason thought for a bit, then shook his head. "Maybe that would make it so that we can't read the words," he signed.

"Where did it come from?" Jiyo wondered.

Justin shrugged. "Maybe from a long time ago, when we weren't in here," he suggested.

Jason was not quite sure about that, as both him and his roommate were pretty thorough about sweeping the small room, but did not comment. He picked up the pieces of paper, and righted them so that the faded brown ink was right side up on both sides. Jason then squinted even closer and turned on his lamp so that he could see the writing better.

"We can fill in the letters," Jiyo signed. "Where is some paper?"

Justin pointed to his top desk drawer on the other side of the room, then walked over there and pulled out a notebook. Jason remembered seeing his roommate use it for writing some spare math problems on for practice before, as well as some random ideas for future essays.

They were pretty easily able to fill in the letters, and all three of them crouched over a small poem. It seemed that Rob would be quite interested, as his younger brother quite liked to compose poems of his own.

The wording read:

_Hello, Adrian  
__Though you cannot hear me  
__I know you can say  
__How much you like  
__My gift to you  
__From Grandpa's attic  
__To your school far away_

_I hope you find joy  
__In the glinting color  
__Of this game  
__And remember  
__When we used to play  
__On the broad grey patio  
__Together in Maine_

_We'll play again soon  
__Just you and me  
__I'm sure as anything  
__But for now,  
__Have fun with your gift,  
__And please,  
__Remember me,_

_Your loving sister,  
__Alene_

Jason winced at the small poem, strongly reminded of his own longing for seeing his brother. Thankfully, Jiyo did not seem his face as he pointed excitedly to the green bag on his bed.

"It came from the marble bag!" he signed, grinning widely.

Jason nodded, attempting to clear his face. "And Adrian could have come to school here," he added.

Jiyo's eyes widened, then whopped himself lightly on his head. "Adrian is deaf!" he exclaimed. He then pointed to the part in the poem 'To your school far away', 'then to 'Together in Maine.' "They lived there," he added.

"That is far," Justin agreed, nodding.

Jiyo then scrunched up his face bit. "Are there any deaf schools in Maine?" he asked, fingerspelling the state name as apparently he did not remember the two letter initials.

Jason gave his Padawan the two letters, then replied. "The bag had the year 1962 on it. Maybe there weren't any good deaf schools in Maine then, or Adrian and Alene had a cousin or other family nearby."

"Maybe," Jiyo responded. "It probably fell out of the bag when the marbles came out earlier when I dropped them in here."

Jason nodded. His clumsy Padawan had indeed managed to turn the bag upside down a bit before they were going to put the marbles in the bin before they had decided to put the bag in the laundry. Somehow, in the cascade of flying marbles, the tiny piece of paper must have been pushed forward in the barrage onto the floor.

He then shrugged. "That was good thing, since it would have fallen in the water with the marbles," he signed.

Justin smiled at that. "Definitely."

Jiyo made another face. "That would have been harder to read." He then brightened. "Maybe we could find Adrian, and see if he saw Alene again!"

Jason was also hoping that brother and sister reunited, as least at some point. Unfortunately, some deaf families, including a few students here, seemed to practically disown their hearing impaired children, even to the point of not allowing them to visit him, or send them gifts for Christmas or even just a single letter. That was definitely something different from his situation, and he always looked forward to receiving another letter from his mother, and especially Rob.

Jason pointed out the part about Alene knowing Adrian was able to talk, and that he probably went home at least sometimes.

Jiyo thought for a little bit, then shrugged. "I hope so," he signed back.

Justin then pointed out the analog clock on the far wall. "Five minutes before eight," he warned. The general bedtime for younger boys at the school was eight-thirty.

The Japanese boy's eyes widened in panic. "I'm supposed to help clean my room!" he rapidly signed. "I forgot!"

Jason wished that his younger friend had told him about it, so that he could have reminded him, but it was too late for that. Jiyo then almost tried to run, but whopped against the chair against the desk. The desk forcefully moved, and with it, the contents of the desk went flying. Jason and his roommate both steadied the younger boy before he tripped again. He then turned to see the floor, where both the picture frames and his own glass mug- though not the same as - were in shards. Jason could see the bare lightbulb still in the lamp, somehow unbroken from the fall.

Jiyo looked crestfallen at the mess. "Sorry," he signed.

Jason let go of the younger boy, managing to control the urge to sign angrily at him. One of the picture frames was of just Rob, and he liked to look at it as he completed his homework. The one with the family portrait was nice, also, reminding him that he had not always been to the deaf school. Why did Jiyo have to go and break them?

He then forced a smile. "It's fine," he signed.

Jason crouched a bit, and carefully shook the glass from the frames, leaving the writing utensils and lamp there for now. Even though the glass formerly cover the former was in pieces, the pictures themselves were fine, as well as the back pack of the frames.

Jason straightened himself, and turned his Padawan. Jiyo's face was still quite saddened, and he showed him the undamaged pictures of his family.

"Nothing's wrong with them," he added.

Justin nodded and smiled in agreement. Jason carefully placed the glass-less frames on his desk, knowing that at least they could not break as easily. Generally he was better at controlling his reactions about Jiyo's mishaps, but the picture frames seemed different, somehow. His roommate was, like Jason, was quite baffled at how much trouble Jiyo managed to cause, sometimes in just one day. However, at least it was not a larger problem this time, though.

He turned around again. "We can clean up," Jason signed to Jiyo.

His young friend looked uncertain. "Are you sure?" he asked. "I know how to sweep."

"Your roommate is waiting for you," Justin reminded him.

Jiyo's eyes widened again. "Right," he responded, then dashed across the room and opened the door- right before accidently banging into it. After Jason and Justin had checked him to see if he was fine, Jiyo ran off into the hallway toward his own room.

Jason grinned a tiny bit, which actually was not forced this time. He then turned toward his friend.

"At least Jiyo doesn't have many breakable things," he signed. That was probably on purpose, though.

Justin nodded in agreement as he smiled. "I'll get the broom," he replied.

The glass shards were soon cleaned up. Jason steadied the spare, flimsy plastic drinking cup they had found in the supply closet, where he had just dropped in the writing utensils, but the cup seemed like it would just tip over once he let go.

"It would be better to find a sturdier cup," Justin stated as it wobbled again.

Jason nodded, agreeing. "That's true," he replied, taking the utensils out of the thin cup and laying them back onto the dresser.

Thankfully, there was much thicker cup hidden one of the upper shelves of the supply closet, and they quickly cleaned it in the bathroom nearby before returning to their room and placing the writing utensils in it.

He stepped back from the desk. "Just like the mug," he kidded.

Justin grinned a bit. "Maybe," he responded. "With an invisible handle."

Jason nodded. "It's sturdier than the other handle," he signed, grinning. "It's definitely not going to break!"

He would have to buy some more picture frames, as he knew that the school was currently out of extra ones that had been around for family and friend pictures, as well as for school projects. His Science teacher had stated one day that the third grade had used them to frame their forest painting they had been working on for a while.

A bit later, Justin went to watch television with some other friends in their grade. Jason stayed into the dorm room, absentmindedly flipping through some books before writing a letter to Rob about day's happenings. He made a quick trip to the first floor to put it into the outgoing mail slot, then returned to his room. Justin was still not back, though it was almost nine. His roommate would be coming back shortly, though, since the rule for the older students for bed times- or at least for being in their dorm rooms- was absolutely no later than nine-thirty.

He changed into his night clothes and got into bed, drawing the covers over him. The plain blue covering on top was most certainly not the multi-colored bedspreads in his and Rob's beds at home. Even the sheets here were usually always plain white. He supposed that the former was somewhat like the comforters his family used in the colder months, which was much thicker and hid the more colorful spreads beneath them. Some students at the school that lived closer had even brought some blankets from their homes.

Jason frowned. Even though his family had lived right in Washington, D.C. on the air force base when he had started to attend the school, his father had insisted that he would be fine using the school covers. He had protested at the time, but even his mother had agreed that he did not need to take any from home.

He then rolled his eyes. He was wondering about covers? How strange. Yet, still borrowing them was something that currently seemed to define him as one that belonging there, instead of with his family.

The light above him suddenly flickered on and off a couple of times. A bit annoyed, Jason got out of bed and opened the door to let his roommate in, even though the door was not locked. They did lock it again soon afterward, and soon, the light was off again and Jason was in bed again in the dark room.

A bit of light shown around the window blinds, so it was not completely dark. He suddenly wanted to write to Rob, with Ghostwriter acting as the medium as he often generously allowed, but he knew that it was a school night for both of them. Today had even been a teacher conference day for Rob's school, so he had been off.

Jason then frowned. He knew that he was supposed to be the "stronger" older brother. He had written some bit of homesickness in his letter to Rob, but had purposely kept that part short, and had instead focused more on other topics. He had even copied down the poem that Adrian's sister Alene had written, using the notebook that he had gotten permission from Justin earlier to use for just that purpose. Hopefully if there would be some mystery that could be solved with the poem, it might prove as a distraction, for even both him and Rob, but especially for his younger brother.

Jason rolled over on his pillow, away from the semi-bright window. How could he get through school tomorrow, and even the rest of the semester, with his longing for staying permanently with his family stronger than ever?

He fell into a troubled sleep, and had a somewhat strange dream. He was digging with Justin in the park near some trees with a blue shovel that kept on bending every which way. Jason frowned as the tool bent in a complete semi-circle, and he lifted it up to straighten it yet again.

Instead of getting it straight, he managed to bend it completely the other direction. Frustrated, he handed it to Justin, who was watching.

"Sorry, I can't get it to straighten," he signed.

Justin shrugged as he concentrated on bending it, but it just somehow slipped out of his hands, boinging straight into the air above them. They watched it soar high then moved aside as it thudded to the ground. Jason saw that his own hands had several cuts on them, and he somehow knew that it was when he had tried to catch the rebellious shovel several times before.

Jason frowned more deeply as he picked up the gardening tool. "How are we going to dig with this?" he asked, indicating the bent shovel.

His friend shrugged. "It's all the police station would give us, since they don't want to help the deaf more than they can give the better ones to the hearing."

"True," Jason agreed.

They had what they had, since the school had run out of shovels . . .

Although, he was not quite sure what they were looking for, but the Science teacher had told them to look in this spot. Who knew. He looked at the searing sun, and caught several people around them, jeering at them, two dirty deaf teenagers, unable to control a single spade. They were not too far away, and he was able to lip read and see what they were saying- not that they were words he wished to see, though.

"Stupid deaf people, digging away. Only fit for slave work today!"

In the back of his mind, Jason remembered that the ending of those awful words would rhyme to someone that could hear. He grimly looked away and concentrated on the shovel, managing to actually get the stubborn tool straight again before placing the bottom into the soft ground. After he was five inches downward, a familiar small hand tapped him on the left arm. Jason turned around to see Jiyo, surprisingly holding a flawless silver shovel, without even any dirt spots.

His eyes widened. "Where did you get that?" he asked after placing the blue strange one down, which coiled into a spring and bounced around them.

Jiyo shrugged. "I asked the park attendant over there," he signed.

Jason turned the direction he was pointing, and saw an Asian woman with a yellow vest waving at them from near the swings.  
"I wrote to her and asked her," Jiyo explained. He then frowned ruefully. "Though she wasn't happy when I accidently bumped into her trying to cross the bridge near the school, and she lost her groceries in the stream."

Jason was quite glad that the park assistant was at least not too angered at that incident, and also quite happy for Jiyo that someone hearing understood his English, which for hearing people could be hard to understand.

Darren suddenly ran toward them, covered with mud and was completely wet. "And he accidently pushed me into the stream at the same time," he signed. Thankfully the ten-year-old was not looking mad in any way.

"Sorry," Jiyo responded.

Darren shrugged. "It's a hot day, so it doesn't matter."

Jason nodded. He could feel a drop of sweat running down his face, but he and Justin still had to complete the task. One of them should take care of Darren, though.

Justin then signed. "You can dig with Jiyo, and I'll go with-"

He did not get any further, as the shovel suddenly turned into its original form (though Jason was not quite so sure about that) and began digging at such a rapid pace that dirt began flying into their faces. The soft dirt turned into an avalanche, and he managed to grab Jiyo's arm before they tumbled downward. He saw Ghostwriter swirl anxiously around them, seeming to panic as he swerved to and fro through the cascading dirt.

Finally, they stopped falling, thankfully on solid ground. He looked up to see a small light at the top of the sort of cavern they were in, all made of dirt.

"Are you okay?" he asked Jiyo, who was sitting, bewildered, beside him.

Jiyo shakily nodded. Jason turned to Justin, who was pulling Darren upward from a stubborn patch of dirt. He tried to stand up, but misjudged how much he was stuck into the ground and fell forward. Jason managed to at least get on his knees. He then felt a tap on his shoulder.

He turned around to see that Justin had pulled Darren out of the mess and was standing nearby. Jason pointed to Jiyo, indicating to help his Padawan first. Justin nodded, and pulled on the younger boy, who managed to come free from the clinging dirt. Next, his friend pulled on him, and Jason felt his legs finally become free. He stepped forward, his shoes sinking into the soft dirt, but Justin pulled him over so that he did not sink too much.

"Thanks," he signed gratefully after he was standing next to Jiyo.

"You're welcome," Justin replied.

He saw Jiyo first look up at the spot of light high above him, then down the dark tunnel nearby. "How are we going to get out?" his Padawan asked, looking anxious.

Jason shrugged. "I don't know," he signed.

They _could_ make noises- Justin was the best at talking, and so could mostly form an understandable "help"- but they could not hear any response from above. One way, though, it would take a while, would be for Jason to ask Ghostwriter to tell Rob or someone else that could see the ghost that they were stuck. They would of course have problems getting someone to believe that they were stuck down there, and the other people in the park might not be helpful in that- unless the park assistant had seen it. Why had he not thought to yell out when they were falling?

Jason then felt something fall on his head, like someone slowly letting out sand between their fingers. He stepped back and looked up. To his surprise, dirt was slowly falling through the top, and he yanked Jiyo backward as suddenly more cascaded downward. Coughing a little from the sudden dust cloud, he looked at his young Padawan, who was slightly dirtier, but fine. Justin was brushing off Darren a few feet nearby.

He looked upward to see nothing but solid dirt above them, and both shovels were nowhere to be found. Jason patted his pockets, but could not feel his pad, and his pen was also somehow missing. He frowned. Somehow, both of them had to have been lost and buried in the fall from the park above them.

Frustrated, they began to walk through the dark tunnel, hopefully toward somewhere that would lead out and upward to somewhere where they could go back to the school.

Suddenly, a bright light seemed to come out of the wall. Jason flinched a little bit at the sudden brightness, to see what looked like a young black-haired boy with light brown skin around Darren's age holding a large metal flash light. His other hand held the hand of a slightly older girl with the same coloring.

The boy lowered the flashlight, and the girl looked at them in surprise. "Are you lost, too?" she asked.

Jason nodded. He wished he had his pen, since most hearing people did not understand sign language. The boy grinned at them, then turned to the girl. He let go of her hand, then awkwardly with the flashlight under one arm, but fluently, signed a question to her.

"How many feet before we're at the school?" he asked.

They had to be talking about the deaf school, then. Jason hastily tapped the boy on the arm. "Do you mean the George Franklin School for the Deaf?" he asked hopefully.

The boy's eyes widened. "You know that school?" he signed back.

He saw Justin nod from beside him. "We all go there," he answered, indicating the four of them.

"A shovel dug up the ground and we fell," Jiyo signed, looking a bit crestfallen.

The girl pointed to something a little to the right. "Right there?" she asked, now signing.

The boy turned his flashlight that direction, and Jason saw the shovel, which was turned halfway into a pongo stick and was happily bouncing toward them. It boinged right by them until Justin grabbed it, but then jerked out of his grasp.

Jason quickly grabbed it, but winced at the cuts on his hands. He managed to cling to the shovel, which finally stilled.

"Maybe we can dig up?" Jiyo asked.

As if in protest, the shovel suddenly yanked out of Jason's hands and bent into a tire shape, then rolled in circles around them. The girl reached out as it neared her for the third time and neatly caught it. Surprisingly, shovel did not struggle, but remained limp as if it were inanimate.

"Only deaf people can bend it," she said, her face apologetic as she held it out to Jason. "It's hard, but you can do it."

Jason nodded and took the tool. Grimly, he grasped both sides of the now curved sides, and slowly managed to wrangle it into a firm solid, shape.

Jiyo grinned hugely as he raised an arm in the air. The new boy then led the group not toward the opening they had come through, but further on down the tunnel. He stopped in a dip where the ceiling was lowered, and he and Justin had to duck.

"Dig up," the boy signed.

Jason nodded, and was surprisingly, despite the rather awkward angle, able to get the tool upward just fine without any problems. He had cleared a few inches above him, when he stepped to get a better view of the small hole and slid on a loose rock beneath him. Jason winced as he landed on his back, and the shovel, which he had lost grasp of in the fall, came tumbling on his head.

He sat up with a slight headache, with Jiyo looking worriedly him. Suddenly, he saw two lights coming from down the hall. They quickly grew bigger into the beams of flashlights, and the small group could see the figures well-illuminated by the bright light. Jason gaped, amazed to see that one of the people, dressed in a slightly familiar Air Force Colonel's outfit, was his father, leading two air men behind him.

His father looked up, and did not looked happy to his older son, dirty and bruised, sitting on the dusty ground of the tunnel.

Jason quickly stood as best he could with the low ceiling. "Can you help us get out of the tunnel?" he asked hopefully, ignoring the smarting cuts on his hands as he signed.

His hoped was short lived, as his father shook his head in disdain. "You can't even handle a simple shovel," his father spat, angered. "Why do you think that you're good enough to come back to the hearing world? Go back your deaf school."

With that, his father pointed to the wall beyond the lower ceiling. One of the air men with him nodded, went to the solid wall, and pushed hard. The wall opened, revealing a hidden door about the size of one commonly found in a house. The three men went through and slammed the door behind them, leaving all four deaf five deaf people and the one hearing girl alone again.

Jason looked down for a few seconds. Yet again, he had managed be nothing but a disappointment to his father, and even worse, they were still all stuck in the tunnel unless one of them managed to get the shovel to behave- or if the secret door that had worked for his father and the air men also somehow worked for them.

Jiyo pointed to the ground, and Jason looked see a small, dirt encrusted marble with a cerulean center lying in a small crevice. Perhaps that had been what he had slipped on earlier just before his father had come. The new boy suddenly smiled and picked it up.

"It's mine!" he exclaimed, signing with his left hand.

Jason saw his Padawan lift up his hands to sign something to the boy, but startled as the ground suddenly shook. Justin pointed behind them, his face quite scared, yet seeming to try to be staying calm at the same time. Jason turned and saw wall of dirt come tumbling toward them, and the group quickly dashed away from the avalanche. They veered around several corners, with no avail of escaping the incoming earth. He flinched as around yet another corner, there was nothing but a semi-circle wall, with no more visible passages to flee through- and moving earth kept on coming.

The new boy then pointed to some small crevices in front of them, and Jason ran closer, Jiyo close by him, and saw several cracks on the dirt wall that seemed to form a row of ladders. He nodded, and motioned Jiyo to go ahead of him. His roommate did the same with Darren, as the boy with the black-haired girl. They carefully started to climb while Jason watched anxiously, with the landslide of dirt nearing them.

He was then tapped on the left shoulder, and he turned to see the new boy looking seriously at him. "If Alene and I don't make it to the school, tell them that we couldn't come," he signed quickly.

Jason's eye's widened as he looked at the unfamiliar boy. "What's your name?" he asked.

The boy smiled briefly, and this time, spoke while fingerspelling, with his mouth clearing forming the syllables.

"Adrian."

Jason turned and saw that Jiyo was above him enough for him to start climbing. The cracks were slippery to hold onto, and he wondered how Jiyo had managed to not fall. He looked down, and winced as he saw the mound of sandy earth on coming fast up toward them, raising higher and higher-

Jason's eyes shot open to see the familiar view of his dorm room. He sat up to see that Justin was already dressed and putting on his school backpack.

"Hurry," his friend quickly signed.

Jason nodded, and somehow seemed to jump in time to after the morning routine. After coming back to his room and also sliding his pack on, he unlocked and opened the dorm room door-

Only to be whacked by a strange familiar blue shovel. Jason was sitting on the ground, rubbing his head, when he looked up to see the tool bouncing down the hallway, with several other students in his grade looking his complete surprise.

He then felt someone was shaking his shoulder, but no one was there, strangely enough. The shaking continued, and he then opened his eyes to see Justin looking worriedly at him.

"Are you okay?" his friend asked.

Jason nodded, blinking in confusion as he sat up from not his small bed, but the cold, hard tiled floor of their dorm room. Also, his roommate was back in pajamas that he vaguely remembered him wearing the night before.

Justin then seemed to be holding back a grin. "You were sleeping on the floor," he signed.

Jason frowned a bit he looked from his friend to his bed, where the covers had half-way on the grey tiles. His roommate was definitely correct. Somehow, he had to have rolled out of bed during the night, pulling the covers partly with him. It had been quite a long time since that sort of thing had occurred.

He tried to shrug nonchalantly. "I don't know why I'm on the floor, but I know that I don't want to use a shovel for a long while," he replied.

Not surprisingly, his friend looked utterly bewildered. "_What?_" he signed back.

"It doesn't matter," Jason responded as he stood up.

He tried to shrug off the utterly bizarre dream, but it was rather hard, especially as he remembered the part about his father. He could have helped them, but Jason had not been able to convince him to do so . . .

He turned off the alarm that was causing his bed to vibrate, actually did the usual morning things this time, and together, he and his roommate went out of the door, leaving the marbles where Jiyo had left them on his desk the night before.

They walked down the hallway with other students hurrying toward the cafeteria for breakfast. Some students had their backpacks, while others were clearly going to retrieve them after the meal. Jason liked to bring his just so that he did not have to double back to his and Justin's room. That had tended to be a good decision most of the time, especially with Jiyo's queer capability of causing strange accidents almost out of nowhere.

This morning was no exception. He waited, slightly impatient, in front of Jiyo's dorm room door, even after Justin had come with Darren and the younger boy's friend. Finally, the door opened, but Jiyo's dark-skinned roommate just shrugged as he saw them waiting there.

"Jiyo went to the supply closet to get a cloth to clean up a spill from the water fountain ten minutes ago," the boy signed.

Unnerved, Jason winced as he, Justin, and the other two boys quickly walked toward the closet. Hopefully there was not _too_ much trouble.

He opened the door of the small closet to see that the shelves were thankfully in place, but Justin pointed to the ground, and Jason saw his Padawan somehow completely tangled up in extra cords for microphones that he knew had been on the top shelf. They had been there for years, and no one seemed to know what they were for, if anything, but just left them alone since they were not in the way.

Jason knelt down to help him, as did Justin. After about three quarters of an hour- Jason winced a bit, as there was only about five minutes for breakfast, and ten more to get to their classes- all four of them finally managed to loosen the last knot entangled around Jiyo's wrist.

"What happened?" he asked.

Jiyo shrugged. "I got the cloth just fine, but then a shovel came from the shelf and fell on me," he explained. "I don't know where it went."

Jason blinked slightly in surprise. "A shovel?" he repeated before giving a hand to let him up.

The younger boy nodded. "It was weird, since it was blue!"

"It was a dream," Darren signed, frowning.

Jiyo frowned right back. "I don't sleepwalk," he replied.

"But shovels aren't blue!"

Jason and Justin managed to calm down the two bickering boys before they started down to the cafeteria. Just as they reached the end of the hallway on their way to the elevator- Jiyo had _loved_ riding it ever since he had gotten to the school- Jason saw someone peer from behind a slightly open doorway of a dorm room. The somewhat familiar boy was actually slightly translucent, as he could see the white brick-pattern wall behind him.

Jason stared in shock as the boy opened his mouth and spoke. "You found my marbles, right?" he asked. Jason nodded quickly in astonishment. The boy smiled some, but the gesture quickly turned into a worried frown. "Don't let anyone steal them, okay?"

He then ducked into the dorm room, and two older boys wearing backpacks came out, closing the door behind then, not seemingly worried about ghosts or anything else of the sort. Jason blinked slightly where he had seen Adrian disappear into the room. There was a hurried tap on his arm, and he turned to see Jiyo looking at him, looking rather impatient.

"Hurry up," he quickly signed. "I don't want to miss breakfast!"

Jason nodded and smiled, rushing with his Padawan to the elevator, where the younger boy hastily pressed the button for the first floor. He watched the digital numbers slide from five to two before they came out and hurried to the dining hall.

Hopefully no other incidents would happen for the rest of the day, shovels or otherwise.


End file.
